Benjamin Read & Chris Wildgoose
First published 2013 Second edition 2015 by Improper Books
An imprint of Read Publishing Ltd, Home Farm, 44 Evesham Road, Cookhill, Alcester, Warwickshire, B49 5LJ www.improperbooks.com
Š Benjamin Read & Chris Wildgoose 2013 Story: Benjamin Read Illustrator: Chris Wildgoose Colours: AndrÊ May Flatting: Alexa Rosa Letterer: Jim Campbell Managing Editor: Matt Gibbs Production Director: Rose Hewlett Production Design: Zoe Horn Haywood
To Mum and Dad of course; and to The Pook, always. - Benjamin Read Thanks to my family for all the support. - Chris Wildgoose
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers. ISBN: 978-1-4474-6131-9
Printed and bound in the United Kingdom.
Welcome, and thank you for picking this book of ours up to read, no matter where you got it from. As I write this, the snow is falling hard over Warwickshire, which feels very appropriate. The book starts in the middle of a bitter winter in the City, and was itself conceived from a fever-dream on a snowy winter’s night a year or two ago. A dream about a girl, a walled garden and a man with a secret…
Porcelain: A Gothic Fairy Tale is an enormously important book to Chris and myself. It’s not only the first book to come out from our independent studio, Improper Books, but it’s also our first ever long-form comic/graphic novel/call-it-what-you-will. We’ve done shorter stuff together, sure, such as True Grit and Super 8, and our own Butterfly Gate, but this is our first real book. As such it represents somewhat of a watershed moment for us as creators, when we first stick our heads above the parapet of comics and… well, hope not to have to duck, I guess. It’s also enormously important to us because it’s got our ALL in. Not just a year of ink, sweat and tears, but everything we hold dear as creators - fairy tales, dark secrets, gothic tragedy, monsters, villains, love and heartbreak - all the stuff that makes us both tick creatively and that we put Improper Books together to tell stories about. It’s all in there and I sincerely hope you like it as much as we do. Benjamin Read Stratford-Upon-Avon, Warwickshire 19th January, 2013
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Benjamin Read writes comics and makes films. He wrote the multiply award-nominated PORCELAIN: A GOTHIC FAIRY TALE, the silent comic BUTTERFLY GATE, and the children’s book NIGHT POST, as well as the TRUE GRIT and SUPER 8 comic adaptations. He also wrote and produced the films ARMISTICE and 500 MILES NORTH. He is one of the founder members of the Improper Books comics collective, and is fuelled principally by tea and whimsy. He is currently working on the rest of the Porcelain sequence. www.benjaminread.co.uk @Bookpirate
Chris Wildgoose is an illustrator, and conceptual and storyboard artist. Northern born, but London based, Chris made his comic debut with the official TRUE GRIT and SUPER 8 comics and has been working towards doing some good in comics ever since. christianwildgoose.blogspot.co.uk @MrRiktus
André May is a comic colourist from Brazil. His interest in sequential art made him pursue comic colouring, which has led to his participation in series such as PORCELAIN: A GOTHIC FAIRY TALE with Improper Books, SIX GUN GORILLA with Boom!, and LA LEGENDE DOREÉ with Vents d’Ouest. Other than that, his life story is pretty uninteresting. He does hope people enjoy his work though. saerus-coloring.deviantart.com
Jim Campbell is an Eagle and True Believer Award-nominated letterer whose work can be seen in titles from BOOM! Studios, Black Mask, Dark Horse, Image, Madefire, Renegade Arts, Titan, and Zenescope. He lives and works in darkest Nottinghamshire and maintains a blog on matters relating to comics, lettering and other random musings. www.jimcampbell-lettering.com @CampbellLetters
Improper Books is a publishing studio focusing on creator-owned stories that have a touch of the fairy tale, the fantastical, or the otherworldly. www.improperbooks.com @ImproperBooks
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Ten years have passed, and Child has grown into a Lady. Sole inheritor of Uncle’s secrets and wealth, she has become isolated behind the high walls she once climbed. Set within a world that’s a magical echo of our own, Bone China is the story of Lady, an alchymist, who must forge her own path through the complexities of love, politics, and war. ISBN: 978-1-4733-2027-7 For more information, please visit
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